Complied
verbActed in accordance with a request, rule, or demand.
How to spell complied
8 letters · 2 syllables
How to pronounce complied
Say the part in capitals loudest.
What does complied mean?
- verbActed in accordance with a request, rule, or demand.
Complied in a sentence
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The factory complied with the new safety regulations after the inspection.
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She complied with the auditor's request and handed over the records.
Where does complied come from?
Language of origin: Latin
This is the past tense of 'comply', which entered English in the early 1600s from the Italian complire and the Spanish cumplir, both meaning 'to complete' or 'to fulfil an obligation'. Those forms trace back to the Latin complere, meaning 'to fill up' or 'to finish', built from com- (an intensifying prefix) and plere (to fill). In English the meaning narrowed from 'to fulfil' toward 'to accommodate oneself to a request or rule', helped by confusion with the unrelated verb 'ply', from Latin plicare meaning 'to fold or bend'. That overlap is why we now picture someone bending to a demand when they comply. When 'comply' takes a past tense, the final 'y' changes to 'i' before the ending, giving the spelling 'complied' rather than the tempting 'complyed'.
How the word is built
- com- (intensive, from Latin com-)
- ply (from plicare: to fold or bend)
- -ied (past tense suffix, from -y)
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